Need advice on bad summer research situation

[NWwildcat2013]

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[IlDestriero]

Call your local PIs and see if one is interested and fly home.
It sounds like they won't miss you.
Your PI doesn't want anything to do with a summer student, obviously, and the Post Doc has a personality disorder. The PI as well probably. Just leave, return any money they gave you and thank them for the experience. Drop a big dose of sarcasm with a stone cold delivery and a smile. If the PI can't put it together, he's probably on the spectrum. Tell them you "have to go home due to an emergency" and fail to elaborate, saying that it's personal.

 

[NWwildcat2013]

Call your local PI and see if he/she is still interested and fly home.
It sounds like they won't miss you.
Your PI doesn't want anything to do with a summer student, obviously, and the Post Doc has a personality disorder. The PI as well probably. Just leave, return any money they gave you and thank them for the experience.

I've toyed with that every single day, but I am really afraid of the PI or someone putting my name in their "black book" or remembering me anytime my name comes across their desk for an interview. I guess he's obviously extremely busy so the likelihood of him even remembering this or thinking its worth caring about are slim.

 

[IlDestriero]

I've toyed with that every single day, but I am really afraid of the PI or someone putting my name in their "black book" or remembering me anytime my name comes across their desk for an interview.

I edited my previous post a bit.
There's no black book and there are many 5 star places to train. You can always train somewhere else if it comes to that. The likelihood of someone being able to really damage your career is very small.

 

[NWwildcat2013]

I edited my previous post a bit.
There's no black book and there are many 5 star places to train. You can always train somewhere else if it comes to that. The likelihood of someone being able to really damage your career is very small.

It would be a huge financial loss for me. Lost rent, airline tickets, and returning my stipend would be an enormous cost. I guess I'll just have to weigh it because I've never been this unhappy and isolated. I have to make a decision soon though because every day that goes by makes going home and having time to be productive less likely.

 

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Dude, what on earth are you still doing there? This sounds absolutely terrible. If this experience is as bad as it sounds, then there's really no point in you being there, which honestly begs the question why they agreed to take you on in the first place. It doesn't sound like you will have accomplished anything during this experience and since these summer research programs usually require some sort of report at the end, you won't have anything to report anyway. So again, what is keeping you there? I'm assuming you have asked to look over the protocol to get a sense of what they're doing and how you can help... so if they're not willing to help you help them, then you're wasting your time. From what you've described, you haven't wasted their time so there's nothing to feel bad about there.

I would talk to the person who runs or coordinates the program and explain the situation. If there's no chance in being reassigned to a different lab, ask if you can use some money to fly home, return the rest of the stipend, and put this behind you. I really think you're worried about burning a bridge that was never built. There will be other opportunities to explore your interests, it just sucks that you wasted your time and money on this one. Take care of yourself and get the hell out of there.

 

[red leader]

Run

 

[JimmyB123]

You have multiple pubs already. Don't waste time with his lab. In fact, tell them how accomplished you are already and how you're not getting anything out of this experience (say it nicely but rub it in their face). And then peace out.

 

[NWwildcat2013]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will definitely be weighing my options and make a decision in the next week after I look at the viability of research at my home institution and the total cost of returning home. The program is administered through a larger organization (I didn't set it up with the lab directly), so I also need to speak with them about the logistics of returning the money etc.

 

[Mr. Mojo Risin]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I will definitely be weighing my options and make a decision in the next week after I look at the viability of research at my home institution and the total cost of returning home. The program is administered through a larger organization (I didn't set it up with the lab directly), so I also need to speak with them about the logistics of returning the money etc.

Sounds like a plan. Talk to the larger organization today. Seriously, today. Don't allow them to waste anymore of your time that could be spent back home doing research with people that actually care about your interests.

 

[jw3600]

You have multiple pubs already. Don't waste time with his lab. In fact, tell them how accomplished you are already and how you're not getting anything out of this experience (say it nicely but rub it in their face). And then peace out.

Publications basically start over and reset to 0 once medical school starts (for residency application purposes). Undergrad and gap year pubs are not really considered to have much weight, with the caveat that occasionally people get home run publications but this accounts for probably less than 1%.

 

[NWwildcat2013]

Sounds like a plan. Talk to the larger organization today. Seriously, today. Don't allow them to waste anymore of your time that could be spent back home doing research with people that actually care about your interests.

Absolutely! Maybe I was naive, but I though an MD would get that students want to be productive over the summer. I thought this PI would be on my team and help set me up for success. Im sort of embarrassed and feel stupid for being this optimistic.

 

[Merely]

I feel so bad for you and I'm sorry you are in this situation since you seem like a really proactive and pleasant student. If you think that you can afford to give them the money back and go home obviously that would be the best case scenario. If you seriously can't afford it, just count it as a lost summer and an unpleasant but new experience that you can use as a lesson to never treat your future students like that.

 

[Psai]

Get out of there

 

[NWwildcat2013]

I contacted the program and they were absolutely appalled at the situation. They said this rarely happens, but it still happens too much for their liking. They are working to find me an amenable mentor in a different lab ASAP. Thats great! I requested that I am assigned to a mentor at my home institution so I could make better use of my remaining 5 weeks by continuing the project while I am in school. I was going to seek out research in this field when I returned to school anyway. Hopefully they say yes to that last part. I haven't heard back, but I think that is a win/win/win for the program/me/new mentor.